True Blood Introduces Zydeco Music

Alan Ball’s ability to present the illusion that vampires do exist is the result of painstaking details going into creating “True Blood”. From the set design, special effects and makeup to the selection and style of music performed on the show, the emphasis is on staying true to the Louisiana setting. In the area of music Alan Ball has focused on featuring local Louisiana bands from the region which is referred to as Zydeco.

Zydeco is a form of America folk music that evolved in southwest Louisianan in the early 20th century form forms of Louisiana Creole music. It is a fast tempo style of music with the button or piano accordion and washboard (or rub-board) being the signature instruments. Over time Zydeco evolved to include elements of waltzes, shuffles, two-step, blues and rock and roll. Today more genres of music are included into Zydeco such as R&B, soul, hip-hop, reggae to name a few. One of the Zydeco artists that was featured in “True Blood” is Curley Taylor who had the opportunity to speak about his recent performance on the show with Eric Dresden from cm-life.com

Curley Taylor is the lead vocalist and accordion player for his band called “Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble.” Mr. Taylor states in the interview that he has had music flowing through him from day one as a result of growing up surrounded by music and toured in his early years with his father’s band, “Jude Taylor and the Burning Flames”. Mr. Taylor refers to his father’s style of Zydeco as having more Blues qualities in it while his band still has a bluesy style to it but with more R&B mixed into it. Mr. Taylor states a lot of people are unfamiliar with this style of music and he is enjoying introducing it to them. He states:

“I love just traveling and exposing the music to people, watching people enjoy themselves. After it’s over I get to say to myself, ‘Whoa, I made those people have a good time,'” he said. “Then everybody goes, ‘What is this you’re playing? What is this kind of music? … To me I just want it to be a good introduction to the music and for them to look forward to seeing me again.”

With Mr. Taylor’s appearance on “True Blood” and the show’s focus an presenting authentic Louisiana music, Zydeco is starting to attract attention and popularity across North America and the world. Mr. Taylor mentioned that he went to a festival in Holland and found out that there are Zydeco bands in Japan, Turkey and in many places. If you don’t remember seeing Curley Taylor, he was playing the accordion and singing in the band with C.C. Adcock during the party.